


I've Told You Not To Call Me These Things In Public; But That's A New One

by PAPERHATDUDE



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Fake Marriage, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Post-Movie: Pacific Rim (2013), Science Husbands, kind of, this is cheesy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-05-09 09:24:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14713433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PAPERHATDUDE/pseuds/PAPERHATDUDE
Summary: Newt is a little too excitable about the manner of their relationship maybe a little bit.





	I've Told You Not To Call Me These Things In Public; But That's A New One

**Author's Note:**

> ((yes ok the first scene is based off that one John Mulaney bit fine I'll go to comedy references jail I guess))

"Hurry up, dude! We're gonna miss the pre-boarding." Newt grabs Hermann's arm, steering him towards the check-in. "The concept of time can kiss my ass it's way too early for this." 

Grumbling in agreement, Hermann tosses the remnants of his bad airport coffee into a trash can. Slinging his bag over his shoulder and dragging his suitcase behind him, he hurries after Newt. 

"Do you have the boarding passes?" He asks as Newt digs through his bag. 

"Uhhhhhhhh, I think so, hang on; I had them right here," He produces one, but the other had been torn slightly. "Oops," he winces, handing it over to Hermann. 

"Really? I put you in charge of one thing, one thing Newton."

"I know, I know, look I think it's ok it's got most of the info still on it," Newt continues digging through his bag, looking for the missing piece. They're almost at the gate when Newt shrugs helplessly in defeat. 

The woman at the desk greets them with a cheery smile. Her eyes look dead. 

"Priority Access boarding?" She asks, taking Newt's boarding pass as he hands it to her. She scans it, then takes Hermann's. Frowning, she holds it up. 

"It looks like you either don't have Priority Access, or it got torn off. I'm sorry sir but you'll have to wait-" 

"It's my fault it got torn in my bag, my husband puts me in charge for one minute and I mess everything up." Newt gives her a guilty smile, stepping back up to the desk. The expression on her face wavers, then her eyes soften. 

"You go ahead," she tells Hermann, "Have a nice trip." 

As they walk down the ramp, Hermann latches onto Newt's arm. 

"You shouldn't have lied to that woman." He tsks. Newt grins up at him. 

"It got you on the plane, didn't it?"

—————

"Yes, my husband and I are very excited about this new research opportunity," Newt smiles at the corporate folks sitting at the table. The gala is classy, and he's struggling to not yell about how cool it is that they get to work with NASA. 

Everyone smiles and smiles, and someone makes a joke and everyone laughed that dignified laugh that isn't really a laugh. 

"Excuse me," Hermann says to the group, placing his left hand on top of the hand Newt is holding his right hand with. "I need to have a word with Dr. Geiszler. We won't be a moment."

A chill runs down Newt's spine while the corporate people nod understandingly. _Dr. Geiszler._ Oh boy, he's in trouble. 

Pulling him away from the table, Hermann talks quietly so no one can overhear them. 

"What are you doing?" He hisses at Newt, who only returns a feigned look of innocence. 

"Doing what?"

"This whole trip you've-" he lowers his voice, even more, whispering into Newt's ear, "you've been referring to me as your husband."

"Nobody can tell, look." Newt shifts slightly, pulling their—still linked—hands up between them. "If I hold your hand like this," he demonstrates, re-curling his fingers around Hermann's hand, "and keep my hand in my pocket, nobody can see if we're wearing rings or not. Schrodinger's marriage."

"That's not the point." Hermann huffs, turning pink at the ears. "The point is that we are not married, and not even engaged. You shouldn't lie to these people, especially about this." _Without asking._

"Yeah, I know, but calling you my boyfriend sounds so lame and doesn't feel right, you know? We've been practically cohabitating for over a decade and by now I probably have like, squatters rights to your health insurance." Newt explains, looking down at his shoes.

"If you do not like the term boyfriend—I'll admit, it is a bit childish—then call me your partner. No need for lies, no need to make me uncomfortable." Hermann suggests. 

Newton fidgets, running his fingers over Hermann's knuckles. 

"But people might think that we're lab partners or science partners or whatever. I don't want to be one of those historical figures that everyone but the historians can obviously see is _so fucking gay,_ and I want people to know about us and see that we're together and in love and stuff."

Quietly, Hermann kisses Newton's cheek. Lights above glow, soft and warm. Newt's breaths are slow and tired—they've barely had time between the flight and the meeting and now fancy dinner at the fundraiser. 

"I know, I know." Hermann says, "I just don't wish for this deception to get us into some kind of trouble." He can't think right now what kind of trouble it could get them in, but he is certain that Newton will find it. 

"What if it wasn't a deception?" Newt asks, smoothly bringing their linked hands up and putting his other hand on Hermann's hip. He sways them gently to the music. Hermann moves instinctively, placing his hand on Newt's back and stepping his bad leg onto Newt's foot. They'd done a lot of dancing at a lot of parties after the Breach closed, and after the first few disastrous times had devised a system. 

"Are you propositioning me, Dr. Geiszler?" No one else is dancing but he doesn't care. The music is nice, and Newt's head is on Hermann's shoulder, soft hair tickling his neck. 

"Maybe," Newt replies, looking up. Their eyes lock, and they still match. Red rings around their irises, maybe more fitting than any metal rings that could be proffered. Not that he'd refuse. 

Newt releases their hands, digging in his pocket. They're still swaying gently to the music, still pressed close. When he takes Hermann's hand again he slips a ring onto the ring finger. Hermann stares down at it. 

It's simple, silver, but with a small band of red stone set into the center. Like their eyes. He's wrong, he realizes. This is perfectly fitting and he loves it instantly. 

Then, after pressing a kiss to the ring, to Hermann's hand, Newt starts to over-explain himself. As if Hermann doesn't already know what he's going to say. 

"It took me weeks—months?—to pick this design. I kept sketching them out, deciding that yeah that's the one, but it wasn't. One time I got halfway to the ring store before realizing that no, it wouldn't look good with that stupid jacket you like so much. For a while I kept putting waves on them, then tiny engraved kaiju, blue gems, one with your Jaeger code covering it, one with our first letters to each other on it, a diamond-encrusted one I knew you'd hate but kinda love."

"The red is coral, and the metal is titanium I stole from one of the Jaegers. It- it felt right. On the inside, engraved, it says," Newt chatters on, blinking back tears. Hermann shushes him, pulls him closer. Clearing his throat, he continues, "I'll let you look at that later because I'm not going to cry into your shoulder at this fancy party and ruin your suit. I thought we'd skip an engagement ring, right? I mean, I made this totally killer ring for you and making another one just seems dumb. And I- uh, I made me one too. Cause that's how rings are supposed to be, right? A pair?"

Hermann stays silent throughout this, knowing that Newt needs to get it out of his system, needs to talk out his nervousness. He hasn't actually asked Hermann to marry him, but that doesn't matter. In his own Newtonian way, he has. 

"Quite," Hermann replies, "a pair."

"Oh, good." His partner's, no, _fiancée's_ voice is very small. 

Silence between them, the lights and the music and the people around them a background that they take no heed of. Hermann kisses Newt on the lips, and he is warm, and it is good. 

"Was your plan to call me your husband until I said something and once I did, no matter the circumstances, propose to me?" He asks suddenly, breaking out of the kiss. Newt grins up at him sheepishly. 

"Uh, yeah?"

"You said it in the taxi ride over and in the _drive-through_ , and in the _airport_ just as we were getting onto a plane." Hermann splutters. "You are a ridiculous man."

"I'm your ridiculous man."

"Put your ring on."

—————

After the party, after far too much alcohol was consumed, after the slow stumbling walk back to the hotel, after the long elevator ride where Newt left small patches of red skin on Hermann's neck, after they tumbled into bed together, after they just held onto each other for a while, after they had a full night's sleep for once, after Newt had taken up the bathroom for so long the next morning, Hermann remembers that the ring is engraved. 

He hesitates to take it off his finger, but curiosity is gnawing at him, so he does. 

The writing is on the inside of the ring, so small he has to put his glasses on. He reads it and smiles. Outside the bathroom door, he can hear Newt singing along to a song, voice soaring. 

Their rings are identical. 

Hermann goes to him. 

_'For you and with you.'_

**Author's Note:**

> currently working on a MONSTER of a fic right now (at least in my standards) and needed a little break. and then- whoops! five pages long. sigh.


End file.
